L.A.W.L.S.

I <3 Webcomics

Ever since I started running my own website I’ve always wanted to do some sort of “Top List of the Year” to share some of my interests with readers. Ideally I wanted to do a blog about music, which I’ve always had a passion for and even gave consideration to for this year. After giving it some thought I realized that even though my comic has some music themes, at this point of time, L.A.W.L.S. is not the proper forum to do such a thing. So instead, I decided to compile a list of some of the my favorite webcomics I read this past year that may have in some way or another influenced the creation of L.A.W.L.S. as a whole!

As to not imply any sort of favoritism, this list will be in alphabetical order. Also, keep in mind, this is a personal list of comics that directly influenced me and this comic.

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Beeserker

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Creator: Kyatt
URL: Beeserker.com

Do you guys remember watching cartoons as a child and ending up completely entranced by the colors, movement and expression that came from them? I’m not sure why, but since the moment I found Kyatt’s Comic Beeserker I’ve always found myself back in a place similar as that when I read his comic. From when I first arrive at his site my eyes start to melt… not in that “WHAT SORT OF HORRID RAINBOW EXPLOSION IS EATING EYES AWAY” sorta thing.. but more of a “I’M A MOTH ATTRACTED TO PRETTY THINGS IN FRONT OF ME” sorta way. Kyatt has a very solid understanding of color, simplicity and absolutely terrifyly awesome facial expressions that make me laugh even with out reading the joke first.

When pondering how I was going to go about creating filler strips for L.A.W.L.S. (that were not Journal Comics), I used Kyatt’s comic as one of my reference point as to how to effectively tell as story in a more simple yet still attractive manner. As I’m sure you can tell with L.A.W.L.S. I am always trying to push myself to make “prettier comics”… but with that have come some side-effects such as stress, loss of sleep, and sometimes death. One major thing Kyatt is taught is, that as great as unnecessarily pretty art can be (such as my comic)… you don’t need it to tell a funny story.

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ChannelATE

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Creator: Ryan Hudson
URL: channelate.com

Ryan Hudson is a genius. I wish I could write jokes as funny as him.

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I AM ARG!

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Creator: Andrew Gregiore
URL: iamarg.com

Andrew proves that sometimes a good phallic joke can actually be a good joke. When I first starting writing comics I was sort of a “prude” when it came to saying or drawing certain things. It was a mental road block that I had to deal with over time, I would worry too much as to what other people would think if I wrote certain things. After a while though, with friends like Andrew around you really realize that it doesn’t matter. If you find it funny, write it… someone somewhere will find it funny and if not whatever not every joke you write is going to be perfect win either. Webcomics are about the growth of a creator, readers come in at whatever point they find the comic and learn along side the creator what they are capable of and what they will become. After many conversations with Andrew about this (and many others), for better or for worse, my writing as sorta taken it’s own shape now.

Though, Andrew’s inspiration wasn’t schlongy. What I’ve learned from him and that I’m still playing around with (with the ALT Universe Comics) is that color isn’t everything. For some reason as a creator, I have this over fixation on coloring and detailing things to an obsessive point. This is by no means a bad thing, it has helped me grow rather quickly in a very short time, but just as I stated in my mention of Beeserker, a joke can be relayed with out it AND in a relatively faster time! Andrew has told me that he actually chose not color ARG simply so that he can focus on the humor of each joke and the quality of the story told from the character’s expressions rather than spending all his energies coloring it. Because of this, while working on the ALT Universe strips, you’ll notice that I’ve gone with a monochromatic palate for the characters and a gray scale background with simple details. ALT Universe, as an overall body of work will be more focused humor and line work than color and detail.

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Nerf This

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Creator: Scott Ferguson
URL: nerf-this.com

The obvious mention. For anyone who has been following L.A.W.L.S., at this point, I’m sure it’s been apparent that Scott’s comic has been a direct influence to this comic. Not only in story but in quality of art and humor. When starting this comic Scott and I had had quite a few conversations about me starting a comic, how I should draw it, what I should write about, etc. Because of this Nerf This was sort of a breeding ground for early development of the comic. Not only that, but as Scott got better I felt the pressure to also get better. It’s one of those things you just do with friends, it becomes a game, you compete and you grow (seriously look at how Nerf This started); it’s fun to have someone to bounce things off of to gauge what where you’re going. I give a lot of gratitude towards Scott for helping me when I need help drawing poses or working out kinks in story arcs and such.

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Scenes from A Multiverse

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Creator: Jon Rosenberg
URL: amultiverse.com

There is something about Jon’s art and sense of humor that I love, but it’s sort of hard to put it fully in words… but I’ll try. Jon is the creator of a comic called “Goats,” a epicly hilarious sci-fi adventure story. Goats was a HUGE influence on the direction that I took L.A.W.L.S as a whole. As you read goats you follow the story’s main characters on never ending quest… and as you do, you think to yourself, how can an “epic” stay funny… it’s gotta get bogged down with seriousness at some point…right? Well, Jon masterly was able to still make it funny a long the way. This is something I’m always striving to do with my comic because as much as I like a good old serious graphic novel with an intense story… it’s personally just not me. I have to crack jokes an inappropriate times to break the tension.. I need to be silly… so why not write that way? Anyway, Goats was pretty much a story that I could NOT put down and could not stop laughing while I read it.. so while writing L.A.W.L.S. I always kept that his story in mind.

As all good thing do, Goats came to an unfortunately end as Jon had to put Goats on Hiatus to move on to his new comic “Scenes From A Multiverse.” At first I was leery about it… but I remembered that I did the same thing with ABlue when I started L.A.W.L.S. …Sometimes as creators we have to focus on what’s best for us to be able to continue to create. So, I gave it a shot, and I’m glad I did. It’s just as funny as Goats, if not funnier. It’s a far simpler and easier format for a new reader to embark and I advise…no DEMAND you go read it now. ^_~

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Other Notable Comics

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Just to trim down the blah blah blahs I felt it would be best to limit my list to 5 for this year. The five listed probably played some of the bigger rolls in the growth of L.A.W.L.S. and needed the most explaining as to why they made the list. The following are other comics I follow and recommend for different reasons:

Astray3 – This comic, artistically, is one of my favorite comics ever. It’s purdy.. yet gritty at the same time.

Buttersafe – RANDOM… in that awesome way.

Crazy Sunshine – I give props to this guy for always trying new things, growing at an extremely fast rate and creating pretty awesome characters. I really dig his transparent comics he’s been doing recently.

EQComics – Another great humor comic that follows a character on a journey, huge inspiration for L.A.W.L.S. and very funny. Dan has his humor down!

Hijinks Ensue – Joel has been a good friend to me this year. He’s a funny guy and I admire his work ethic.

Robbie and Bobby – A great comic about a boy and his Robot… Jason has been doing this comic for a long time, in fact he was one of my first comic buddies ever. This year he’s helped me write quite a few jokes and has a really solid understanding of words and beats in a comics. High Recommendations on his work.

Toilet Genie – Cari is one of the best artists I’ve ever met. She’s does beautiful water coloring and writes an intriguing story. I did fan art for her earlier this year, remember?

Toonhole – Inappropriately awesome comics!

Two Guys and Guy – Artistically awesome funny comic.

Zombie Roomie – A very artistically well done comic, it makes me happy to see other people put this sort of effort into their trade. John has been a big help to me this year with a various number of things and I wanted to take a moment to thank him for that!

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NOW GO READ SOME COMICS! :]